Online ticket scalping comes to Europe

BenCharny

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- European Internet users on Thursday got their first experience with online ticket scalping, thanks to a founder of StubHub Inc., the 6-year-old secondary ticket sales Web site serving North America. Eric Baker, who left StubHub in 2004 following a falling out with the company, has now flipped the switch on viagogo, a secondary ticket sales Web site operating in the U.K. and Germany. The site works in very much the same way as StubHub, down to the 25% of every ticket sale that viagogo collects. He says it's the first of its kind for Europe. "The whole concept of secondary ticketing is not uniquely American," Baker said in an interview. "Going to a (N.Y.) Yankees game or a Madonna concert at Madison Square Garden is no different than going to a football match in London." A spokesman for StubHub said the firm has designs on launching its own European site, but no definite plans yet.

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